tour

Tour:Smart: And Break the Band
$29.95
If you're leasing a tour bus and getting $1000+ a night for gigs, then the examples in this book might interest you. I found it beyond the practical level of most indie bands I know.
I was surprised and unappreciative of the level of profanity. It is possible to glean some good insights from the book, but it is more a compilation of several events and happenings in the authors life. The touring information was beyond the scope of 99% of indie bands wanting to book a tour...which is probably the audience for this book. So while it is interesting to read, it lacks continuity and misses the mark on practicality...in my opinion.

BlackBerry Charging Pod for BlackBerry Tour 9630
$29.99
Looking for the right charger? well, this is it. Looks good, and stands up with the clock showing when it's charging. it also takes up very little space.

BlackBerry Silicone Rubber Gel Skin Cover Wrap for BlackBerry Tour 9630 (Black) [Bulk Packaging]
$9.99
This skin is great and for a great price. These covers go for $15 in the phone store. They are a bit thin but that was exactly what I was looking for. The store brands were thick and made it difficult to use the camera and volume buttons and it made the phone too bulky. I have been using this skin for a month and it is the best one I have seen yet.

BlackBerry Tour 9630 Phone, Black (Verizon Wireless)
$499.99
I was extremely excited to own my very first Blackberry phone. I had just recently given up on my G1 phone. I was curious to see how the Blackberry compared to the G1. The phone itself serves its purpose. The screen is nice and fairly scratch resistant, unlike the G1 which was prone to scratches. The keyboard set up is great and makes texting and emailing a breeze. My only issue was with the dialing pad, when given a phone number with letters instead of numbers (i.e. 1 800 322 tour) there isn't a way to figure out what letters go to which number.

I keep reading mixed reviews about the battery. I text and email pretty much throughout my day and my battery holds up very well. But, if you include phone calls and web surfing, it puts a serious strain on the battery. Any busy business person knows, either have a spare battery or have a charger, at work, in the car, and at home...nothing new there.

My biggest gripe with my new Blackberry is the high cost of apps. Everything is seriously overpriced, for the simplest applications. The average price on the Blackberry market seems to be $4.99. That is one great thing about my G1. Many great apps were free and if they were priced, it was usually less than $2. The same apps I used to download on my G1 now cost me between $3-$5 on my Tour. Also, many free applications available are not compatible for the Tour. Also, you can forget about streaming youtube videos using the included application, it is not supported on the Tour. Do a web search for the headaches that people are having trying to stream videos on their Tour.

Customization of the installed apps is also an issue I have. You are very limited on how you can manipulate the phone to the settings that you want most. The only way around it is to download an app for each individual item. If you want to customize settings for your alarm, buy an app. If you want to customize your calendar, buy an app. It is crazy, the phone just keeps costing money for as long as you own it. Once my contract runs out, the next great phone running the Android operating system will be high on my wish list.